AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I pressed my lips together to hide my smile. “Flynn’s mead.”
“Ah.” My mother sighed gustily. “Well. I’ll get used to it, I’m sure.” She patted my chest. “Go get dressed, darling. I need to finish my centerpieces, and the ladies will be arriving shortly. You know your Aunt Louise believes in being fashionably early. So gauche.”
I laughed as I bent to press a kiss to her cheek.
As I headed back to the house, I began brainstorming ways that I could make everything work out. Ways that would give me the job I wanted… and the man I was coming to believe I couldn’t live without.
“Jonathan,” a voice said from the shadow of a latticed archway.
I jumped two feet in the air and made a very unmanlyeepsound. “Jesus Christ, Brantleigh!” I yelled. “Warn a person. What the fuck are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for something fun to happen. And now it has.” He smiled and stepped into the sunshine wearing a tennis outfit so white it seared my eyes. “I was hoping you’d walk by.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Oh?”
“I need a doubles partner, and your brother’s terrible at it. No killer instinct.” He winked and gave me a flirty grin that put all his very white teeth on display. “Come play with me. Please?” He pouted prettily and fluttered his eyelashes. “I don’t handle rejection well.”
I let out a breath. I hadn’t been very patient with Brantleigh over the past few weeks. He was spoiled and entitled, yes, but he was young. And if I’d learned nothing else from my time in Honeybridge, it was that people sometimes could surprise you.
“Look, Brantleigh, you’re very… handsome,” I said. It was the truth. Sort of. “And it really sucks that you’re having a rough time right now. I sincerely hope that gets better. But you and I…” I blew out a breath. “Look, my mother had an idea that you and I would be a great match, but I’m sure you’re as aware as I am that we don’t have anything in common, so—”
Brantleigh’s smile didn’t dim. “That’s not true. We travel in the same circles. We know all the same people. I have a trust fund, you have a trust fund. You’re ambitious, I’m ambitious.” He laid a smooth, thin hand on my arm and leaned closer to whisper in my ear. “I like sucking cock, and I’m willing to bet you like having your —”
I pulled away with an uncomfortable laugh. “Ohhh, whoa whoa whoa. No, see, I have a trust fund, but I never use it. And I’m not interested in…that.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Blowjobs?”
“Not with you,” I said flatly, my patience dwindling rapidly. “I’m seeing someone.”
“That’s not a problem.” He closed the distance between us again and coasted a hand over my chest. “Keeping secrets makes things spicier, don’t you think?”
“No. I don’t.” I removed his hand from my person. “Hear the words I’m saying: I’m not interested.”
Brantleigh’s nostrils flared. “You’ll change your mind.” His smile turned into something more calculating.
Okay, so maybe some people were exactly as they appeared on the surface.
“I really won’t. Not ever,” I said firmly. “There are lots of other great guys in town, though. I’m sure one of them would bethrilledto take you up on your offer.”
I said a silent apology to the gay population of Honeybridge.
Brantleigh tilted his head to an Instagram-perfect angle. “Maybe you’re right,” he said slowly. “Since I’m stuck in this town forweeks, maybe I should get out and chat up some other men.”
I nodded. “That’s the spirit.”
“Maybe keeping secretsisoverrated.” He tapped his lower lip thoughtfully. “So perhaps I’ll hit up the Tavern. Get to know the locals. That’s wherethose Honeycuttshang out, right?”
A flare of apprehension gripped me, and my eyes narrowed. If this guy hit on Castor or Alden, Flynn was going to need bail money.
If he hit on Flynn,Iwould.
“Don’t make trouble,” I warned.
“Please. I’m not achild, Jonathan.” Brantleigh curled his lip. “People always underestimate me. You. My father.” He rolled his eyes. “I promise you, I’m not as useless as you think.”
“I didn’t say you were useless,” I protested. Wait,hadI?
“Later,” he called over his shoulder, flouncing toward the house.
